Ambiguity
by FlameOfIllumination
Summary: Draco returns to his seventh year at Hogwarts, knowing he is not trusted.What will Draco do and who does he truly serve? Post HBP DMBZ and DM? SS?
1. Chapter 1

"_Severus, please…"_

"_Avada Kedavra!"_

…………………..

"_Don't call me COWARD!"_

Severus Snape bowed his head and faced his Lord.

"I am very pleased with you Severus. But what's this, is that regret?" the Dark Lord's voice sharpened, his red eyes glinting.

"No my Lord" Severus said. "My regret is only that I was spotted doing the deed and so I can no longer spy for you at Hogwarts."

Lord Voldemort smirked. "Young Mister Malfoy will have to replace you, and hope that he does a better job of it than he did his first mission."

Severus said nothing, standing tall in front of the other Death Eaters in his black hooded robe, and saw from the corner of his eyes one of the other Death Eaters twitch involuntarily. The Dark Lord noticed it too and spoke out. "Lucius, do you have something to say to me?"

"No my Lord" Lucius Malfoy said hastily.

Voldemort studied him indifferently, his white face with its red serpent eyes illuminated in the darkness.

"Perhaps you do not like that your son is being punished?"

"He failed you my Lord." Lucius replied- glancing at the crumpled black heap of robes near Voldemort's feet.

"True. Get up boy" Voldemort said kicking out at Draco's huddled form.

Draco gasped loudly, using all his strength to struggle to his knees, hands and legs shaking.

"Time to fix your mistake."

It was the start of Harry Potter's seventh year at Hogwarts.

Draco didn't even bother looking for him. The crowd of students was rather less than a crowd this year, so many students had been pulled out of school and there were a grand total of 5 new students. Draco spent most of his time looking at them, avoiding the shocked looks from his peers at his presence. Pansy, Crabbe, and Goyle were gone, and many students had expected the Malfoy boy to be gone too.

Luna Lovegood wandered past and for a moment met Draco's eyes. Draco sneered and glared viciously but she seemed unfazed, continuing to walk past.

"On the train!" a voice called and the smallish group of students separated from their parents and headed onto the train under the watchful eyes of fifteen to twenty Aurors.

Draco headed for the door but a hand grabbed his sleeve, impeding his progress.

He turned irritably to meet the eyes of Professor McGonagall.

"Mr. Malfoy, come with me please. You can't Apparate yet can you?" she said, looking him sternly in the eyes.

"No." he said sullenly.

The Professor frowned at his tone but made no comment.

"You will Apparate with me then."

"Why can't I take the train?" Draco asked, looking over her shoulder.

McGonagall looked at him. "Because I want you to come with me."

Draco nodded and grabbed the Headmistress's arm.

Draco stood tall in front of the desk, letting his eyes wander over the walls and rest on the portrait of Albus Dumbledore. Professor McGonagall cleared her throat, interrupting his reverie and the young Slytherin blushed.

"Do you have any questions for me Mr. Malfoy?"

"No Professor" Draco lied, watching Professor McGonagall purse her lips impatiently.

"Not even about why you are still here and not in Azkaban right now?' she said bluntly hoping to shock the pale, thin and sneering boy out of his taciturn disposition.

Draco lifted an eyebrow questioningly but said nothing.

"Professor Dumbledore…" Professor McGonagall stopped. "The Headmaster claims that you are innocent of any wrongdoing on the night of his…" she hesitated again and Draco saw a look of pain flash across her face. "His death" she finished strongly. "Therefore you have of course been invited back to Hogwarts for your final year."

"I didn't know a portrait's testimony could be used in court" Draco muttered at last, when the silence had stretched for too long. Professor McGonagall looked as if she were about to hit him but though better of it and said "Mr Potter and Professor Dumbledore were the only witnesses to…anything that might have happened on the Astronomy tower and as Mr. Potter has refused to return to school, to speak to his teachers, the media or the law Professor Dumbledore is the only source we have."

Draco glanced at the portrait again but it was still empty.

"You may go to the Great Hall now; I believe the carriages have just arrived." Professor McGonagall said when it became apparent Draco wasn't going to say anymore.

Draco nodded, and stalked away.

The doors to the Great Hall were open wide and Draco walked inside quickly listening to his footsteps echo across the Hall. Behind him he could hear the noise of students approaching but Draco didn't hurry, acutely aware of the eyes of many of the teachers focused on him. Sitting at the Slytherin table near the end Draco assumed that he would be sitting alone, the only other Slytherin in his year, Blaise Zabini had always shown little or no interest in Draco, gazing at him contemptuously when Draco had tried to suss him out, way back in first year.

The rest of the school filed in and sat quietly at their tables, the usual excited chatter subdued by their depleted number and the dark robed Aurors who had flanked them all the way into the hall. Professor McGonagall stood, her new position in the Headmistress chair another brutal reminder to the students of just how precarious their childhoods could prove to be. She gazed at the young faces before her and at the House tables individually, each one shortened due to their lack of members.

"I welcome the new students first and foremost, and they will be sorted shortly. You may have noticed, those older students that the traditional trip over the lake was postponed, and the first years brought straight here. This is of course due to our increased security…" her voice became stronger "however I would like to stress, to each an every student, speaking especially to our first and second years, as well as our older years that will set the example for the school that the time for house rivalry is past."

Draco didn't look around but he heard a faint murmur from the Gryffindor table.

"Professor Dumbledore, who passed away at the end of the last school year, has long spoken against the tradition of sorting, and w- I, along with the school governors have determined that this is the final year of sorting."

Professor McGonagall then sat down, ignoring the shocked whispers going around the Great Hall.

Draco smiled faintly, _'that works perfectly…'_

**Should this continue? Someone tell me. **


	2. Chapter 2

The Sorting Hat was brought out then and the five little first years stared at it apprehensively as they stood in their huddle near the front of the room. Draco continued to watch them, not glancing around at the rest of his house.

The hat started to sing.

_Bold Gryffindor of wide renown_

_I am the hat he used to own_

_Yet sadness kept me from my song_

_And in today's light it seems wrong…_

The hat fell silent. The Hall waited expectantly but when the Hat stirred again it did not sing. Instead it spoke in the quiet, ironic voice that each student there had heard in their heads on the day of their Sorting.

"I sort you now for the last time, and can only repeat, in simple prose this time, it is unity that will save you and nothing else.

You are not sorted into houses so that you can tear each other apart!"

The hat finished strongly, a hint of emotion entering its voice, surprising many.

The dead silence that followed was broken by Professor McGonagall, who walked to the front, stood next to the hat and said, "When I call your name you are to come forward put on the hat and go to the house assigned to you."

Mikhail, Alexis and Nicholas Alexandrovitch were all quickly assigned to Slytherin, and the triplets walked over to the table, hesitated and filled the gap between Draco and the rest of their table.

Draco didn't spare the three dark haired little boys a glance, but continued staring at the Sorting Hat, no emotion on his face.

Nealan Grace and Kaelan Zander were also sorted into Slytherin after a short pause and they made for the table, sitting down beside Nicholas.

The hat was taken away and the feast began.

The first years ate sedately, talking quietly to each other as if they were alone.

Eventually the hall filled with noise, and Draco again fought to keep a scowl off his face.

He stared at his food. Somehow in his thoughtless reverie he had piled it up, and now he was confronted by a daunting prospect. Potatoes, chicken, gravy and vegetables…_too fucking much!_

_Okay…what am I going to do? Can't just leave it, professor sn-…is not here._

Mikhail Alexandrovitch glanced over at the seventh year sitting next to him.

_He looks sick_ Mikhail thought. He watched the pale boy's face twitch slightly and a myriad of expressions flit over it, culminating in one of relief and sadness.

The seventh year looked up from his food then and his face smoothed over, revealing nothing.

Draco met the first year's eyes. "Problem?" he asked sarcastically.

"No." Mikhail said. "Just looking."

Draco looked at the first year in surprise and smiled slightly, his first smile for months.

"Well Mikhail Alexandrovitch, you're a little young for that don't you think?" Draco said, amused to see the younger boy go red and shake his head. "I didn't mean…"

Draco shrugged and got up from the table, using his wand to vanish the food that he hadn't eaten. "Whatever" he said, leaving the hall at a fast walk and heading down to the dungeons.

Stopping at the blank wall to whisper "Adamant" then stepping through into the cold elegance of the Slytherin common room Draco could not name his feelings.

The room was empty, and Draco wondered wryly if this was a vision of the future.

"A vision of when Slytherin disappears and its students forced into Ravenclaw."

"I must concur with your assessment Malfoy." A voice intruded and Draco turned around, not embarrassed to have been caught speaking to himself.

"However" Blaise Zabini continued "I think speculations on the future of Slytherin are best left for the dorm rooms, rather than a common room where intrusions are frequent."

Draco stared at the dark haired boy in front of him irritably, although taking care to ensure none of this showed on his face.

"And I suppose you are the…epitome of discretion, Zabini" Draco drawled, looking the other boy straight in the eye. To his surprise Blaise didn't even blanch, looking back at him steadily.

"I am well aware of the rumours surrounding me" Blaise said finally.

"So they are rumours?" Draco asked, stirred into curiosity.

"I may have been…indiscrete in my younger years, but no longer Malfoy." Blaise replied, "I'm afraid I'll have to leave that to your imagination."

Later Draco did not know what made him do it. He confessed as much to Blaise once, and the taller boy had looked at him and shook his head. "You know Draco. You did it for the same reason you do most things. For control."

"Lucky I have a pretty fertile imagination then." Draco leered. "It'll help me when I try to picture you and –"Blaise's fist slammed into his jaw and Draco stumbled backward, bringing one hand up to touch his reddening cheek.

"Faggot" he gasped angrily, _No-one hits a Malfoy!_

Blaise froze on the spot, his hand lifted. A slow smile spread on his face and Draco watching him saw that he was angry, angrier than he'd ever seen the quiet Slytherin be.

"Not here." Blaise said threw gritted teeth and hasten to the stairs of the seventh year dorms, which of course only he and Draco now occupied.

Draco looked at him but followed; _at least if he punches me again I can curse him without having someone walk in._

Draco slammed the door to their room hard and saw from the corner of his eyes that his gear was lying in a neat pile at the foot of his bed.

Blaise looked at him.

"How dare you Malfoy." He said.

Draco sneered. "I say what I like."

Blaise took a step forward and then stopped. "I meant how dare you, be such a hypocrite," he said, rather more calmly, pleased to see Draco blush.

Draco raised one eyebrow. "Sorry?" he asked. "You've lost me."

"Like you don't know." Blaise spat, seemingly driven to anger again by the cool indifference Draco was projecting.

The blond Slytherin stepped closer to Blaise until they were nose to nose, looked him in the eye and said softly "You have no idea what you're talking about."

The mood changed then, the room seemed to become lighter and Blaise smiled.

"I don't do I? I'm not one of your henchmen."

Draco hesitated, confused at the strange mood shift, then his eyes narrowed. "Trying to change the subject Zabini?" he said dryly.

Blaise rolled his eyes. "You obviously don't know me Malfoy. I revel in…throwing people off balance."

Silence.

"By the way, that bit of information comes for free, everything else you'll have to work for." Blaise continued, smirking.

Draco shook his head, confused. "You are weirdest fucking faggot I've ever come across." he said bluntly, feeling a faint prickle in his left arm and ignoring it determinedly.

Blaise scowled then laughed. "Trying to make me mad Malfoy? You can't. I've decided I'm going to find out what makes you tick, so now you're stuck with me!"

"Unless I mention you and your _lover_ of course." Draco parried.

Blaise shrugged. "Yeah, you could mention that. But then, I could always be rather careless in my conversations. Conversations about a certain day, a certain room."

Draco looked at him, comprehension dawning in his perplexed eyes.

"How do you know about that?" he asked, letting real curiosity ring into his voice.

"I am Slytherin. And a nosy one" Blaise said.

Draco looked into his eyes and laughed at what he saw.

"I'm sleeping now" he said, turning his back on Blaise and starting to get changed.

Blaise looked at the Malfoy boy, gazed at the back of his head for a long time and smiled again. "You are a curious boy Draco Malfoy."

"And you are insane" Draco replied and got into bed.

"Goodnight to you too Malfoy."

The two boys slept and a robed figure far away smiled incongruously, before schooling his face and turning back to his work.

Not far from him the Dark Lord paused in his pacings. His mind wandered to the young Malfoy, hiding in Hogwarts. A cruel smile lit his face. _He will corrupt, he will...and then Hogwarts will be mine. My own, my home. And the lake will glow red. _

**What do you think? I'm aware that this is too short and it's all conversation, but it's necessary. **


	3. Chapter 3

The week passed for Draco. It passed neither slowly nor faster than usual but all the same it passed and the weekend dawned.

Blaise Zabini had sat with him in class from that first day and despite the fact that Draco was often short, cold and rude to him Blaise continued to do so, undaunted by the silence on the part of the other boy.

"What happened to Mr. Cold and Superior in first year?" Draco asked him once, in a fit of annoyance. Blaise smiled. "You just described yourself, not me. I just had no interest in a boy who would voluntarily surround himself with two blocks of pavement like Greg and Vince."

That weekend, the first great stretch of leisure time dawned and Draco wondered momentarily what he would have done if he wasn't 'otherwise engaged.'

Aurors guarded the gates and the walls' spells that made it impenetrable had been doubled, so Draco didn't even try it. Instead he ran into the forbidden forest and headed to a clearing whose location had been burnt into his brain. The one where the dead unicorn had been, long ago in his first year. There, lying where he left it, protected by a plank of wood and a myriad of spells was his portkey. "Damn those anti-apparation wards."

Blaise stopped at the entrance to the Forbidden Forest, knowing that he would get lost.

"God damn it Draco. Why do you make this so hard?"

The room Draco entered was cold and dark, but then they always were. He took his place in the circle of dark robed Death Eaters, his mask firmly in place. The Death Eater to his left glanced at him quickly and through the eyeholes of his masks Draco recognized the cold blue eyes of his father. Draco nodded to him and then faced forward again as a door opened out of the blackness and Voldemort appeared in front of him. Behind Voldemort stalked another man, tall and dark robed with the same mask as the other Death Eaters. He stood at Voldemort's side.

"Come here" Voldemort hissed commandingly, his cold voice sending shivers up Draco's spine and making his hands and feet aware of an icy chill.

Draco walked forward head bowed and knelt at his feet, kissing his masters robe. Voldemort watched and then kicked him away carelessly. Draco got to his feet and stumbled back a little, waiting just in front of his fellow Death Eaters.

"Speak."

Draco raised his head, looking Voldemort in the eyes as he spoke, knowing that would please his master. "The school is confused. The teachers are urging unity amongst the houses and yet many wish that Slytherin's noble house be stricken from the school, my Lord."

The Dark Lord stretched his grotesque face into a parody of a smile. "That house of...Death Eaters and serpents" he said, looking around at his followers. Many laughed nervously.

"Is that all?" he directed his next comment to Draco, still standing out the front of the Death Eaters.

"The Headmistress suspects me but can do nothing whilst she is tied to Dumbledore's memory." The Dark Lord sneered. "Reduced to a portrait. A foolish Gryffindor woman clutching desperately at the memory of a bumbling fool in order to run a school...and yet I knew it would be more of Dumbledore's weakness that would bring him down."

The Death Eater standing on Voldemort's right twitched.

Voldemort placed his white hand on the Death Eaters shoulder. "His weakness for you, Severus has proved his downfall. Does that please you?"

"Very much my Lord," Severus Snape said, bowing. His dark onyx eyes met Draco's and something unidentifiable flitted into them.

"Give Draco here my orders. And his punishment." The Dark Lord ordered and left the room.

The other Death Eaters followed, leaving Draco and Severus alone.

"Get back to school Mr Malfoy" Severus said sneering. He looked Draco straight in the eye and the young man felt something touch his mind. Instinctively he threw up his mental shield only to find it broken in one hard push by the other man's mind. Draco staggered backwards and was gripped by a hand of iron. A voice spoke in his mind.

Take your punishment from the Dark Lord. 

Sir? Draco sent back.

I am the Dark Lord's second and I do this because it must be done. After it is I will send you back to school. Do not leave the room you find yourself in.

Bewildered, Draco was about to speak until he was silenced by one word.

"Crucio".

It felt like centuries later for both the victim and the one who cast the spell but at last the curse lifted and Draco lay in a heap on the ground, limbs shaking.

He tried to focus his eyes but the world span dizzyingly and it was only through great willpower that he was able to raise his head. The room was empty.

Draco dropped his head to the cold stone again and laid motionless, eyes open and staring at the ceiling.

In the next room Severus Snape watched his colleagues kiss their master's robe whilst he stood above them watching with an expression of contempt on his face.

The contempt was directed at himself.

Lucius Malfoy also lay at his feet, recovering from his own taste of Crucio.

"Get up Malfoy. Are you as useless as your son?" Severus snapped and Lucius crawled to his feet, sending a look of rage at the other Death Eater. Voldemort watched in amusement. It suited him for his second, and the man he replaced to be fighting.

Offering no reason, the Dark Lord left the room then, taking Wormtail with him.

"My son is not useless. You interfered where you weren't wanted. He would have-"

"He took too long" Snape interrupted harshly.

"And now?" the mood changed swiftly from confrontation to neutrality and the other death eaters looked at them curiously.

"Now that idiot boy needs to be sent back to Hogwarts." Severus swept out of the room robes billowing.

Lucius glared after him, and then swept the room with it, smirking in his mind as he watched the fools flinch. _Still afraid of me, even after my disgrace._

Then he left.

The room of requirements.

It was here the Draco appeared, and stood motionless in the centre. The room currently looked like someone's bedroom. There was a bed in the corner, a desk and a shelf of potion's ingredients behind it.

"Sit down" the Professor snapped, appearing out of the fireplace and motioning him into a chair. Cold hands brought bottle to his lips and Draco drank obediently, feeling the aching lesson somewhat and bringing a hint of warmth to his insides.

"Sir, how did you get here?" Draco mumbled drowsily, vaguely recognizing the taste of a calming potion, combined with a healing draught.

"Never mind that now, just sleep."

Draco raised himself onto his feet in protest but swayed as he did so, causing Severus to grab him around the shoulders and steer him towards a bed in the corner.

"Lie down here Mr Malfoy. Will anyone have noticed your absence yet?"

Draco mumbled indistinctly and fell asleep, one hand clutching the others man's sleeves. Severus stared momentarily at the boy before wrenching his arm from the boy's grasp and stalking away to stand in front of the fire, frustration showing in his dark eyes.

An hour passed, then two. The blond boy slept on.

When he woke the room was empty, a potion stood on the desk and a note.

**Go back to class Mr Malfoy. Drink this.**

And Draco did.

This ritual continued through the weeks to come, Draco would head for the forest, appear before his Master and carry out whatever tasks he was set, report on Hogwarts and leave, very often tasting Crucio before he left.

The term was half over before Blaise asked him where he kept going.

They'd just left transfiguration, a lesson where Professor McGonagall had made them change their left hands into fins.

Draco had succeeded in doing this but then found himself unable to transfigure it back. Going to Professor McGonagall (reluctantly) for assistance he had then stood calmly before a gaze that tried to pierce his heart and discover his secrets. The way she looked at him Draco half expected her to refuse, and he felt nervous but at last she complied, wiping away all trace of fins from his hands, but not before the other house noticed his plight and started to laugh.

Even bloody Longbottom did it. Draco thought bitterly, eyeing the other boy. Neville was currently back form one of those long unexplained absences he had, the ones the staff turned a blind eye to. Draco rolled his eyes mentally. _An idiot could tell that he was helping Potter. Don't Gryffindor's know how to be subtle!_

Draco considered challenging him once, seeing what would happen but remembered what happened the last time he talked to anyone outside of his house.

"**Finnegan, what are you doing down here?" Draco drawled, "These are the dungeons, and I believe Gryffindor tower is in fact- as the name suggests- in a tower."**

**The sandy haired Gryffindor drew back his lips in a scowl. "Malfoy. I'm patrolling. Trouble spots."**

"**Trouble spots? There hasn't been a fight in the Slytherin dungeons in 50 years" Draco sneered, not liking the superior expression on the other boys face.**

"**Not fighting between youse- kill each other if you like, mass suicide. I'm patrolling for...lonely little Death Eaters like yourself."**

**Draco ripped his wand from his sleeve in a move so fast it was blurry and pressed the tip to the Gryffindor's throat. "Death Eater am I?" if that's right, then what are you doing down here all alone?"**

"**Get off him Malfoy" a voice behind him and Draco felt a wand at his back.**

**A second one pressed into his neck and before he could react a strong hand punched him hard in the stomach.**

**Dean Thomas, Anthony Goldstein and Zacharias Smith stood in front of him.**

"**Bastard." Dean snarled, punching him again. Draco waved his wand wildly and yelled "Sectusempra!"(A.N is that how you spell it?)**

**deep cuts appeared on Deans face and he yelled in pain, whilst Seamus dived on Draco and punched him into the ground, Anthony grabbing Draco's wand from his hand.**

**Draco had struggled for a while, silently before his arms were pinned down under Anthony and Dean's feet and his legs sat on.**

**Then Zacharias began methodically to kick his face.**

**Slam. Death Eater. Scum. Faggot. Death Eater. Whore. **

"**Do you suck You-Know-Who's dick for him?"**

"**A pretty boy like you, you probably suck them all."**

**A hand grasped Draco's balls and twisted them brutally. He screamed and the boys laughed.**

"**Sorry, not as gentle as your daddy am I?"**

"**Probably too gentle, you and your daddy like it rough don't you?"**

**The blows continued and Draco heard large cracking noises as the bones of his cheeks and nose broke. His dripped with blood and the beating continued until long after Draco lost consciousness.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Warnings: There will be slash in this. I'm sorry for those who don't like it, but it will be there. Shouldn't be a hge thing so you could ignore it if you want to.Some bad language, possible torture scenes and some alcohol. **

Draco stumbled into his dorm room from another meeting, tiredness stinging his eyes. Lucius had gotten him a smaller room, one that he shared only with Zabini but Draco hadn't seen his father since his failure to kill Dumbledore. His usually weekly letter of warning and advice had never come, and only the continuing, steadying presence of Professor Snape at the Death Eater meetings, standing at the side of his Lord had given Draco the strength to not simply collapse under those red eyes in a puddle of shame and failure and Crucio.

Too exhausted to undress, or even move further he flopped down onto his bed fully dressed and fell asleep with his shoes on.

Blaise watched from the corner where he'd been standing silent as a shadow.

The Malfoy boy had never told Blaise, but it wouldn't take a genius to work out where he was going. He watched a moment longer to be sure Draco was asleep and stepped forward, gingerly sliding Draco's shoes off, grimacing with distaste. _Too bad, I can't call a House Elf to do this, _hethought_. Draco's feet sweat._

He hesitated once they were off, and gently slid a blanket over the top of him.

_You're appealing Draco, but I'm not getting you undressed. I have no desire to be castrated as I sleep. _Blaise stared longer, lost in thought.

_So angry, so scared. So attractive. Damn hormones. _

Blaise's first encounter with the male of the species had been an interesting one, and part of the reason he was such a loner in Slytherin House, traditionally one of cliques and factions. It had started in his third year, when he was 14. A seventh year Ravenclaw by the name of Karl Zietlow transferred from a German wizarding school, Die Akademie von Magie and struck up a friendship with him from the outset, despite extreme hostility on Blaise's part. Karl gave him his first kiss, one night in a corner of the dungeons.

Well, no, technically his first one was with a pureblood girl at one of his parent's parties, but Blaise preferred not to remember that embarrassing incident.

Karl was different. Karl was a man when Blaise was just a little boy; Karl was confidently quiet, keeping his head down and studying hard in a manner that Blaise now, half unconsciously, emulated.

Of course, Blaise wasn't as discreet in his younger years as he was now...

He scowled ferociously at Draco, still fast asleep on the bed in front of him.

When Karl left at the end of the year, someone in 4th year called him a fag. Blaise smiled grimly at him and later on thrashed him in a corridor. Of course, Karl wouldn't have liked it but Blaise figured it didn't matter. Karl would have smiled at the kid and then kept walking, indifferent to his opinion.

Blaise cold indifference was affected, although so well that few could tell. Karl's was genuine.

* * *

Time passed. 

Draco continued reporting to his Lord, telling him of the petty happenings at Hogwarts.

In his spare time Draco studied, everything except DADA- he got enough practice at that with the Death Eaters.

Quidditch continued, although Draco remained studiously indifferent. What did the petty rivalry's matter now? His team- that now consisted of Blaise as Keeper, three third year Chasers, and Mikhail and Alexis as Beaters (the first years) protested virulently when Draco quit at the start of the year before their first match but subsided when fixed with a glare from Blaise, who had silently gestured Draco off the pitch.

That night Blaise confronted him in the quiet of their room as they were changed for bed.

"Why'd you do it Draco?" he asked angrily. Then, a powerful smell hit him.

"Have you been drinking?" Blaise asked incredulously. "You smell like fire whiskey."

Draco raised an eyebrow.

"What does it matter?"

"It matters." Blaise sounded strained. "It's not the Quidditch cup, or even House rivalry. It's normality. You bribed your way onto the team in your second year- why are you quitting now?"

Draco continued to change into his green silk pyjamas.

Blaise waited but sensing that Draco had no intention of answering shook his head frustrated.

"That's it. I've had enough" he spat angrily. He strode over to the door and cast a locking charm on it. Draco glanced at his reflection in the mirror and adjusted his sleeves.

The next charm Blaise used was a silencing one and at this, Draco looked up in concern.

"What?" he asked simply, seeing in the mirror Blaise's scowl.

"I've waited. It's been months since you told me that rubbish about going into the forest to be alone." Even in the midst of his anger, Blaise remembered something that made him smile. "Your first excuse was far more believable. 'I'm going to jack off in private thank you very much'"

He scowled again.

"Tell me what's going on!"

Draco arched one elegant eyebrow. "I'm a teenager; I have a strong sex drive."

Blaise reddened angrily and took a step forward, jerking to a halt, his hands shaking in anger.

"Fuck talking" he said at last pulling his wand with astonishing speed. "Petrificus-"

He got out half the spell before Draco grabbed his own wand and cast a stunning spell, knocking Blaise backwards and into a wall.

A few minutes passed before Blaise got up, a bruise plainly visible on his face.

"Are you going to tell me now?" he mumbled.

Draco stared at him in horror. He watched the bruise slowly forming and his face became paler and paler. "I'm sorry," he mumbled. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry." He chanted desperately, his eyes still looking in Blaise's direction but focused inward, as though he was looking at something only he could see.

Faces. A girl and a boy, crying as they were tied to a pole. Draco's slender hands made the job easy, but gazing into the Mudblood sibling's eyes he wished that Snape had not interceded, and reminded the dark Lord that Draco couldn't use the Unforgivables whilst still at Hogwarts as they left magic traces.

Draco straightened, slightly disgusted that he'd had to do it by hand.

"Now drop them over." The Dark Lord commanded, watching Draco intently for signs of weakness. Draco bowed his head, and levitated the Mudbloods into the air, keeping his eyes firmly on them, as he knew the Dark Lord would want. Forcing a memory of his parents to the front of his mind Draco even managed to force something between a smirk and a smile as he dropped the children into a lake, the pole taking them straight to the bottom where, through the clear water he watched them suffer for what seemed like many long minutes.

The Dark Lord smiled as he watched them struggle and as they subsided the lake became still again and he placed one skeletal hand on Draco's shoulder. "Perhaps you will do well, despite your failure young Malfoy."

"Yes my lord." Draco mumbled.

Blaise stared aghast. Draco was crying.

Blaise gritted his teeth. _I don't feel sorry for you. You're just the spoiled Malfoy heir, finding life too hard. _Blaise's strict sense of honesty refused to allow him to continue those veins of thought and instead of just staring, he came forward, placing a cautious hand on Draco's shoulder.

Draco shuddered but didn't move away.

"You stupid boy." Blaise muttered. "Why get the mark Draco, why do this?"

"I had to!" Draco shouted desperately, then dropping his head continued quietly.

"I may be just a Malfoy, but I love my father and he loves me. Father failed the dark lord when he didn't kill Harry Potter in the Department of Mysteries in my fifth year...he lost his position at the dark lord's side...he lost the protection his power gave me...if I don't do these things for Him, then he will kill my parents." Draco was pale as death, and his hands gripping his wand were shaking.

Blaise reached out and held them steady. "Why don't you tell someone?" he asked.

Draco looked at him despairingly. "I don't have anyone to tell Zabini. I'm alone. Even Professor..."

Blaise shook his head. "You're still an idiot Malfoy," he said, pulling Draco onto his bed in one fluid movement. "Stop shaking." He muttered. He looked at his hands. They looked so dark against Draco's pale ones.

Draco laughed giddily and pulled from a pocket of his robe a silver flask.

"Fuck me Zabini!" he said. He undid the stopper and took a long scull of the liquid within. He grinned.

"Talk about a mood swing Malfoy," Blaise said. "What's in that?"

"Just fire whiskey," Draco said, taking another sip and handing it to him. Blaise brought it to his lips cautiously, still staring at Draco. Then it all clicked. The laughter, the crudeness, it was another way of hiding. Blaise hid behind silence, behind sternness and books. Draco hid behind a flamboyant smile. Blaise nodded at him and an understanding past between the two. Blaise took a deeper drink. He felt the liquor burn all the way down his throat and a grin lit up his serious face. _Just one night...just one night to forget everything._ He decided swiftly. "If you insist." He said, straddling Draco's hips. Draco looked up at him, a mixture of fear, lust and apprehension on his face. Death Eater or not, he was still a teenage boy.

* * *

Severus Snape waited impatiently. Since his elevation through the ranks, he was not used to being kept waiting by any of his fellow Death Eater, except of course Bellatrix Lestrange, who couldn't stand the fact she had been replaced, and so treated Snape to lingering glares, implied threats and sullen disobedience. 

At last, the door to his chamber opened.

"Lucius." Snape sneered.

"Severus."

"Did you get here alright?" Snape asked.

"Yes." The senior Malfoy was paler than usual, his dark silver eyes thoughtful. "How is Draco?" he asked urgently.

"He is...as well as can be expected." Severus said flatly.

Lucius Malfoy sighed in relief. "I have a letter for him. Will you give it to him, next time you see him?"

The Potions Master nodded. "I have good news for you. The Dark Lord is looking more kindly on you, soon enough you will come back to meetings."

Lucius nodded. "And, the Hornet, are you any closer to arranging a liaison with her?"

Snape grimaced. "Don't call it a liaison, you'll make me ill." He joked.

Lucius half smiled. Unusual behaviour from the dour potions master meant that he must be in a better mood. Plans were moving along.

"Yes," Snape continued, "She is interested in talking with Draco, but I have warned him away form her, at least for a while. His mind shields need to be much stronger before he can risk contact with the other side. Mad-Eye at least will have no qualms about forcing information out of him."

Lucius scowled. "I still don't like using my son as a go-between." He said uneasily.

"I know, and I don't like it either, but if not Draco then who? You and your son are the only ones I trust, and neither an escaped Death Eater nor Albus Dumbledore's murderer will be welcome in the Hornet's nest." Snape finished speaking and stood still, his pallid face framed by long dark hair.

Lucius nodded. "I must go. I believe Wormtail will come to check on me soon."

"The Dark Lord sends the little rat to check on you, that I did not know." Snape looked thoughtful. "He still serves me at Spinners End when I need him."

"Little boot-lick should be used to taking orders from his betters." Lucius said viciously, "But what are you doing at Spinners End? What about the place you bought with your potions earnings?"

Snape scowled. "Shut-up. As far as we are concerned, Spinners End is my home, got it? If the Dark Lord knew of my home, he would expect to be invited and then my only haven would be his."

Lucius nodded. "I will go. Please, watch for my son."

Then he was gone.

Severus Snape watched after him meditatively for a few seconds, and then glanced at the sheet of parchment he held in his hand. He was tempted to read it, but refrained.

_Lucius isn't foolish enough to write anything revealing. _

His left arm began to burn a little, and Snape quickly concealed the parchment behind a loose stone, underneath a chest of drawers that he levitated up quickly. Equally carefully, he tucked his memory of the conversation he'd just had behind his Occlumency shield, adjusted his robes and strode out of the room, Apparating to Voldemort's side.

**Only 8 reviews, I wasn't sure whether to contine but I have a couple of ideas where this is going so I thought I'd update, see if I get any more reviews, any more reasons to continue.**

**The Boy-Who-Lived does make a cameo very soon!****However, Harry won't play a major role in this story until right near the end.**

Next chapter: Draco reads the letter from his father and Snape returns to Hogwarts for another chat with Draco. Also, Lord Voldemort forgives Lucius, on one condition...


	5. Chapter 5

**Warnings: slash scene. Not too graphic I think. Skip it if you like. **

Draco bit Blaise's lip gently. Blaise practically snarled in response, pushing the younger Malfoy down beneath him on the bed. Draco moaned and muttered a name that Blaise couldn't quite hear. Blaise shrugged mentally. He'd never expected Draco to be thinking of him, and so felt no guilt when his own mind drifted. However, he kept his mouth firmly shut as he carefully traced Draco's protruding collarbone.

Draco let him do it for a few moments, but then both boys, as if they were of one mind, decided that this wasn't exactly what alcohol and teenage hormones equalled.

After all, this wasn't love, it was fun.

"You're not a virgin are you Draco?"

"No." Draco panted, face flushed.

* * *

"Lucius, get up."

There was a pause as Lord Voldemort and his second watched the man lying on the ground.

"Get up!"

Lucius Malfoy struggled to his knees, cursing. He raised his head. Severus's horrified eyes traced a long scar running down past his right eye and onto his neck. He felt Voldemort looking at him and quickly slammed a shield memory in place. He felt the Dark Lord probe his shield then retreat, satisfied with the surface shock and mild triumph Severus was projecting.

The Dark Lord liked his servants to dislike each other as much as possible, though he knew that Lucius and Severus were friends. Severus reached out with his Legilemency and a worry line appeared in his shielded mind. Whatever torture Lucius had undergone was seriously weakening his ability to shield his thoughts._ I must get him out of here._

"My Lord, what do you wish me to do with him?"

"Get him dressed, cleaned up, then bring him to me." Lord Voldemort disappeared.

Later, in Snape's personal quarters, near the Dark Lord, Lucius and Severus quarrelled.

"Stop moving. Are you a grown man or not?" Snape demanded irritably, swathing Lucius' neck with a healing cream.

Lucius bared his teeth. There was a pause, and he grabbed for a piece of parchment, pulling a quill from a nearby desk. His hand shook as he wrote: _**He is gone, I think, but wisest to take precautions.** You do not have to tell me. _Severus wrote back carefully.

* * *

Blaise ran his gaze idly over Draco's body. The other boy'd fallen asleep, the alcohol knocking him out. Part of him felt regretful over what they'd done, fuelled by alcohol and their inner frustrations. It would put a new feeling in their interaction; Blaise could feel it even before Draco woke. He rested a hand on Malfoy's pale shoulder, shook him awake. Grey eyes opened, studied the black boy whose bed he was laying on.

"Tired." He said apologetically.

Blaise nodded. His eyes fell on the fire whiskey bottle, abandoned on the foot of the bed. "Luckily Snape isn't here, he'd smell that out and we'd be in shit." He said, gesturing towards it. "I don't think Slughorn cares, he's probably got his own stash." Draco replied.

He stretched again, avoiding Zabini's eyes.

_If Snape was here, Dumbledore would be alive, Pansy, Goyle and Crabbe would be here, and I wouldn't be getting drunk on a Saturday afternoon_. As he thought that, he winced, imaging the look on his Father's face or on Prof. Snape's face if they saw where he'd sunk to.

"I'm never drinking again!" Draco spat bitterly, standing up.

He groped for his shirt, slinging it on.

"I wasn't that bad, was I?" Blaise drawled.

Draco shot him an exasperated look and he stood up, grabbing Draco's robes from the floor.

"Want these?"

Draco snatched them from his grasp childishly.

Blaise rolled his eyes. "What's your problem?"

"I shouldn't drink. It's disgusting." Draco slipped his shoes back on.

"Christ almighty! Stop acting like a freaking Muggle! We did nothing wrong!"

Draco stopped, his face softened. "It's not because of that that I shouldn't drink. I lost control, I fell asleep. I'm a Malfoy."

Blaise studied him, fell back on his bed. "Bye then."

"I have study to do." Draco said, almost apologetically.

Blaise reached for a book.

Draco grabbed his textbooks and a fresh sheet of parchment, and began to write an essay due the next week. He'd only gotten through a paragraph or two when he felt a slight burn in his mark. He glanced around; Blaise was not watching him, his gaze intent on his work

_I suppose it's too much to hope I'll just get an owl from the Professor. _He thought

The message that reached Draco came through very direct means. His mark began to hurt, began to ache, but with a different feeling than the call Voldemort gave. Draco clapped his hand over the mark and let out a low hiss of pain. _What is that?_

It burned again, and his fingers felt warm. He glanced around the room. Zabini was absorbed in his reading, eyes flashing over the pages. Draco stood up, walked out of the room. Blaise ignored him. Walking through the corridors at normal pace, to avoid attracting undue attention, it took great willpower to keep from touching his Mark. The room of requirement was up ahead, and Draco began to walk back and forth in front of it, thinking hard_. I need a way to talk to Severus. I need a way to talk to Professor Snape._

The door appeared; Draco put his hand on the handle.

"Mr Malfoy, where are you going? That is a broom closet." The clipped Scottish tones of Professor McGonagall stopped Draco in his tracks and he cursed under his breath. "Professor?" he said ingeniously.

"I'd like you to come have a chat with me if you please."

The Headmistress' office was darkened when they entered, the portraits covered. Draco wondered if they needed nap time, since all of them were so old. McGonagall sat down, put her glasses on, and reached for a bundle of parchment. Draco didn't move but the minutes stretched on, she wrote quickly and precisely in a firm hand. Draco stood up.

"Going somewhere Mr Malfoy?" she asked without raising her eyes from the parchment.

"Was there something you wanted Professor?" Draco infused his voice with precisely the right amount of insolence, designed to infuriate teachers without provoking them into punishing him. "I told you, I wish for us to talk."

"What about?"

"Whatever you like. I will wait." She replied stiffly, continuing to write.

"I really have nothing to say Professor." He answered plainly.

"When I sad I was willing to wait, you obviously misunderstood the length of my patience." She replied to him firmly, "You and I will meet at this time until you have something to say to me."

"What?" Draco exclaimed angrily, "But, but, this is my study time!"

"All Saturday?" she inquired archly. "You may not, of course, bring any study materials with you that might detract from the rich conversations we will be having."

Draco ground his teeth angrily, nodded stiffly, and sat down again. Keeping his eyes fixed on the Professor, he whiled away an hour and a half in this fashion before the Scot's woman glanced up at him again, laying down her quill with a sigh. "You may go Mr Malfoy." Behind him, Draco caught a flash of movement in one of the portraits. Dumbledore's neighbour was waking from his nap, whilst, as Draco caught in a swift, guilty glance upwards, Dumbledore slept on.

Draco headed back to the room of requirement, noting the door had disappeared again. He paced the hallway again, trying to keep his mind clear of any thoughts save Professor Snape, but realising he'd been unsuccessful when he opened the door to a bubble bath and a bottle of Butterbeer.

On a small table beside the bath there lay a mirror. Draco walked over, picked it up and glanced in it involuntarily. His own face swam before his eyes, pale skin, blue-grey eyes and long hair. His eyes were slightly bloodshot. "Professor". He said meditatively, feeling another prickle of heat emanate from his Mark. Instantly, to his surprise, the image in the mirror changed. Blond hair changed to black, grey eyes dissolved in a sea of dark eyes and his own pale skin seemed tanned compared with the pallid glow that Severus sported. "Professor!" he gasped, nearly dropping the mirror. Professor Snape smirked. "Yes, idiot boy. I suppose the Room of Requirement explains why my mirror just turned into a viewing portal."

Draco nodded. "I…did you need me sir?"

"Two hours ago when I first signalled, yes." He said acidly.

"Are you okay?"

"Be quiet Draco, I have some news to give you. Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle seem set to fulfil similar roles to their respective fathers, and Miss Parkinson is facing the less than savoury prospect of being betrothed to either one."

Draco frowned. "Pansy Parkinson submitting to a Goyle? That doesn't sound like her. She aims high," he said a little smugly.

"Perhaps she is wiser than you give her credit for. The Dark Lord has been known to take other lovers than Bellatrix Lestrange." Snape commented.

Draco grimaced. "Please don't make me picture that."

Snape grimaced uneasily, and stilled. "I will need to discontinue this conversation soon."

Draco nodded, and gestured for him to continue.

The ghost of a smirk flitted onto the Potions' Master's face.

"Your father returns to the Circle shortly."

He said it so curtly, so baldly; Draco couldn't believe the emotion behind the words. His own, his memories. The reassurance, the love behind his father's commands and admonishments, even the weekly letter which had recently become more and more perfunctory, fuller of calls to pride and loyalty and obedience to the Dark Lord than any real correspondence.

Draco blinked away tears, and fiercely fought down a surge of optimism. Snape seemed to know what he was thinking, though they were separated by hundreds of miles. "Good. It is far too early to know how this will all go. The ultimate ends are many months away." Snape lowered his voice. "Potter and his friends still meander around the countryside, the Dark Lord's spies trailing them. Two Death Eaters are dead at the hands of his hot-headed young friend Mr Weasley, and Auror Moody who has taken to following them."

Draco sneered at Weasley's name, and looking thoughtful, asked in a whisper also,

"I should have thought Auror Moody would follow me. Why am I left so to my devices after what happened last year?"

Snape sneered. "Think you that you are so important? Nay," he softened his sneer, "I believe your Headmistress, and the testimony of Dumbledore keeps the Order from haranguing you."

"The Order?"

Snape tensed and Draco realised the Occlumens had made an uncharacteristic slip.

"Of course, thanks to Mr Potter, full knowledge of that night was not made public. Whilst I am the demon of the Wizarding World, your part has escaped mention."

Draco felt a little sick, hearing an edge of bitterness in his ex-teacher's voice.

Snape's tones softened again. "Draco, I do not say that to accuse you. Everything is going as planned. You stay, study, and do not worry."

Draco smiled bitterly. "Whilst you and Father risk your lives, whilst Potter accumulates allies, I sit at school, fucking the local boy?"

Snape raised an eyebrow. "Frustrated Draco? You are not usually so indiscrete."

Draco blushed hotly. "I…I'm just…I don't know!"

"Stress." The older man pronounced, switching into 'teacher mode'.

"It's your final year, if you are not stressed about that, despite all these distractions, then you are not the little know-it-all you have pretended to be all these years. Be careful. And one last thing…" Snape looked thoughtful, pulled out his wand and an envelope. He tapped it once, and pushed it abruptly into the mirror. Draco saw it, floating, obscuring Snape's face in the glass.

"Pick it up you silly boy." Snape snarled, as Draco just stared at it.

Cautiously, Draco reached out and pressed his hand into the glass. It slid inside with a sensation like soapy water, and he slowly pulled hand out again, holding onto the envelope firmly. "It's from your father."

Draco smiled widely. "My Father? He wrote to me?"

Snape nodded. "I must go. This is not an easy thing we do."

For the second time Draco noticed the man's extraordinary pallor and realised the effort it took him to pass that letter through.

"Your mirror will work as a usual one after a few minutes. If it is imperative that we must speak before the next meeting then I will signal you in much the same way I did today. You must come here, think of somewhere secure from all danger, and then look in the mirror and say my name. First name and last if you please, you are lucky I knew you were coming or you could have linked with Mr Remus Lupin, also a Professor of sorts in possession of one of these mirrors and the skills to use them." Snape finished, wrinkling his nose as he said 'skills.'

"And there may be other 'Professor's' in Britain you would have linked with."

Draco nodded, recognising the name.

"The werewolf? I didn't think his kind were particularly skilled at Charms."

"Strictly speaking Mr Malfoy, what we just did was not a charm but a hybrid of Transfiguration and Apparation, minimised of course. And werewolves have a natural aptitude for the former, although the latter is intrinsically more difficult for them because they are, strictly speaking, not quite human in the biological sense."

"House elves can do it and they are not human at all!" Draco protested.

Snape sighed. "You are right, but the house elves' power is inherent to them, you could not learn to Apparate as they do, and they cannot learn to Apparate as we do. Werewolves, half giants, even centaurs and merpeople are all humanoid, but not human. And whilst werewolves and half giants, to take Hagrid and Lupin for example, can learn to Apparate, it is difficult and for most of them is slightly painful."

Snape shook his head suddenly and interrupted himself mid sentence,

"And you have me teaching again when I should be concentrating."

"Be good. Wait. Enjoy the room. And," Professor Snape scowled. "Sleep more, you look dreadful!"

Then he was gone.

Draco carefully lay the mirror face down on the table. His mind swirled with information, and a well of relief that his father was safe. He reached for the Butterbeer, taking the top off and having a swig. He sighed loudly, and tested the water temperature of the bath with his fingers. The perfect temperature, only degrees below cooking him. Draco liked seeing his pale skin turn red in the hot water.

He checked the door was locked, and slowly took off his robes. He sank down into the water and let out a sigh of contentment.

_Now when do I actually start doing something, when do I get to help my father and godfather?_

_**Draco,**_

_**Be brave. I do what I do because I have to. It's the way. I can't write to you anymore, but I know you will do well. I don't know how long it will be but I will be at meetings again. You must not speak to me, must not acknowledge me. Do not lean on Severus too hard when the Dark Lord can see you, or he will think you weak. I can't imagine you enjoy the same social prosperity as previously expected of one who carries our name, especially with the reasonably recent departure of Mr's Crabbe and Goyle, but I hope I am not mistaken in assuming that due to Mr Potter's absence you and your fellow Slytherins breath a little easier. Stay away from the Headmistress for now, I know you are eager but coming forward too early will ruin all- you are not shielded sufficiently.**_

_**Our job continues, as always at a brisk pace. Though temporarily 'demoted', I have nonetheless occupied myself with work, brewing potions for the ranks. My potions skills should tell you how much success I have had.**_

Draco smiled. His father was a hopeless brewer, a fact that always increased his admiration of Severus.

_**Wormtail is here, spying on me but the fool is trapped in the trick stair in the second staircase and though I can hear his cries for help I believe I will let him simmer a while longer. **_

_**Take no risks. Do nothing save obey the Dark Lord. Anything that needs to be done will be done by either Severus or myself. **_

_**I shall not say goodbye. We are masters of our own life.**_

"How like you Father," Draco murmured. "Start with a command, end with one."


End file.
